| EGREM | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1964 |
| Genre | Cuban music |
| Country of origin | Cuba |
| Location | Calle San Miguel No. 410, Centro Habana, Havana |
| Official website | www |
EGREM (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales, Spanish for Enterprise of Recordings and Musical Editions) is the national record label of Cuba. It is headquartered in Centro Habana, where its main record studios (Estudios Areito 101 & 102) operate. It was founded in 1964 after the nationalization of the Cuban music industry, absorbing the assets of Panart. [1] EGREM had a monopoly on music production activities from 1964 until the late 1980s when independent labels reemerged. [2] EGREM's archive comprises "the most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world". [3]
Since 2002, EGREM has a commercial director, a public relations department and a web site. [4] Although the label had a history of international licensing deals, direct distribution of EGREM's music did not occur until August 2004, when several agreements were made between the label and European record companies. [5] In 2005, the SGAE (Spanish copyright agency) began to distribute online part of EGREM's catalog. [6] On September 15, 2015, Sony Music announced that it would distribute EGREM's recordings internationally. [3] [7]
Until 1996, EGREM distributed music recorded at its Havana studios under the imprint Areito. Between the early 1980s and 1996, music from its Santiago de Cuba studios were released under the imprint Siboney. [8]
During the mid to late 1960s, the international distribution of Areito LPs and EPs was handled by Palma, a short-lived imprint organized by EGREM. In the 1970s, Palma was replaced by Guamá, an imprint launched by EGREM to commercialize Cuban music around the world.
EGREM also manages live venues throughout Cuba under the name Casa de la Música. [5] [8]
Since its foundation EGREM has recorded the vast majority of artists that remained in the island. Many others, such as Celia Cruz, Bebo Valdés and Cachao, went into exile. Starting in the late 1990s, EGREM runs an agency called Musicuba to manage its artists in Havana. [4] [8] A second agency called Son de Cuba operates since 2012 in Santiago de Cuba. [8]
The following artists have recorded material released by EGREM:
Panart was one of the first and most successful independent record labels in Cuba, founded in 1944 by engineer Ramón Sabat. In 1961, its studios were seized by Fidel Castro's communist regime and the label was nationalized, becoming "Panart Nacionalizada", which shortly after was absorbed by EGREM.
Rubén González Fontanills was a Cuban pianist. Together with Lilí Martínez and Peruchín he is said to have "forged the style of modern Cuban piano playing in the 1940s".
Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho Valdés, is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger whose career spans over 50 years. An original member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, in 1973 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands.
Omara Portuondo Peláez is a Cuban singer and dancer. A founding member of the popular vocal group Cuarteto d'Aida, Portuondo has collaborated with many important Cuban musicians during her long career, including Julio Gutiérrez, Juanito Márquez and Chucho Valdés. Although primarily known for her rendition of boleros, she has recorded in a wide range of styles from jazz to son cubano. Since 1996, she has been part of the Buena Vista Social Club project, touring extensively and recording several albums with the ensemble. She won a Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album in 2009, a Latin Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Album in 2023, a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, and she received three Grammy Award nominations in 2019 and a nomination in 2024.
A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.
Irakere is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album Irakere. Irakere was a seminal musical laboratory, where historic innovations in both Afro-Cuban jazz and Cuban popular dance music were created. The group used a wide array of percussion instruments like batá, abakuá and arará drums, chequerés, erikundis, maracas, claves, cencerros, bongó, tumbadoras (congas), and güiro.
José Marcelino Díaz Marquetti, better known as Cheo Marquetti, was a renowned Cuban son vocalist and songwriter.
Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz, better known as Ñico Saquito, was a Cuban trova songwriter, guitarist and singer. He is widely considered the most prolific and successful composer of guarachas, most of which he wrote during his stint as a member of Los Guaracheros de Oriente. Among his most enduring compositions are "Cuidadito compay gallo", "María Cristina", "Adiós compay gato", "Al vaivén de mi carreta", "Camina como Chencha" and "Amarrao compé".
Guillermo Barreto was a Cuban drummer and timbalero. He was a major figure in the Cuban music scene for more than fifty years and one of the first drummers in Cuba to play Afro-Cuban jazz.
Andrés Echevarría Callava, better known as Niño Rivera, was a renowned Cuban tres player, songwriter and arranger. Early in his career he played with the Sexteto Boloña and Sexteto Bolero, before forming his own conjunto in the 1940s. His music was based on popular Cuban forms such as the son montuno and the chachachá, often with notable jazz influences.
Pedro Nolasco Jústiz Rodríguez, better known as Peruchín, was a Cuban pianist specializing in jazz-influenced Cuban popular music. He was an important figure in the 1950s descarga scene in Havana, and one of the most influential Cuban pianists of the 20th century.
"La engañadora" is a song written by violinist Enrique Jorrín and first recorded by Orquesta América in March 1953. Shortly after its release it became Panart's biggest-selling single. It is widely considered the first cha-cha-cha and one of the most influential Cuban songs.
Areito is a Cuban record label founded in 1964 as the primary imprint of EGREM, which is based in Havana. Areito is named after the recording studio from which the vast majority of its catalog stems, which in turn was named after the Taíno ritual of the same name. The record studio had established in 1944, originally named Panart studios and was associated with recording engineer Ramón Sabat's Panart record label.
Mercedes Valdés Granit, better known as Merceditas Valdés, was a Cuban singer who specialized in Afro-Cuban traditional music. Under the aegis of ethnomusicologists Fernando Ortiz and Obdulio Morales, Valdés helped popularize Afro-Cuban music throughout Latin America. In 1949, she became one of the first female Santería singers to be recorded. Her debut album was released at the start of the 1960s, when the Cuban government nationalized the record industry. She then went on hiatus before making a comeback in the 1980s with a series of albums entitled Aché, in collaboration with artists such as Frank Emilio Flynn and rumba ensemble Yoruba Andabo. She also appeared in Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana and continued performing until her death in 1996.
Raimunda Paula Peña Álvarez, better known as Paulina Álvarez, was a renowned Cuban singer of danzonetes. She became the leading exponent of the genre during the 1930s, being nicknamed La Emperatriz del Danzonete. Her greatest hit was the song "Rompiendo la rutina", the first danzonete, composed by Aniceto Díaz in 1929. In 1960 she recorded her only LP record.
Francisco Emilio Flynn Rodríguez, better known as Frank Emilio Flynn, was a renowned Cuban pianist. Despite being blind, he was a skilled and versatile pianist who mastered many forms of Cuban music, from danzas and danzones to filin, descarga and Afro-Cuban jazz. He was the founder and director of several ensembles, including Loquibambia (1946) and Los Modernistas (1951), both co-founded with José Antonio Méndez, as well as the Quinteto Instrumental de Música Moderna (1958), which later became Los Amigos.
Puchito Records was Cuba's second independent record label. It was founded in 1954 during the mambo and cha-cha-chá explosion. Many of its recordings, produced by its founder Jesús Gorís, became instant hits.
Enrique Raúl Planas Fernández was a popular Cuban singer and songwriter. He performed and recorded with many bands and musicians, including Carlos Barbería y su Orquesta Kubavana, Sonora Matancera, Celia Cruz, Conjunto Rumbavana, Conjunto Chappottín, Charanga Rubalcaba, Rubén González, and the Afro-Cuban All Stars.
Discuba is a Cuban record label founded in 1959 by RCA Victor. It released music by several internationally successful artists such as Beny Moré, Orquesta Aragón and La Lupe. Following the end of the Cuban Revolution and the nationalization of the music industry by the Cuban government in 1961, Discuba relocated to Hialeah, Florida, as did many Cuban independent labels. Since the late 1980s the label has mostly reissued its back catalogue, and moved its headquarters to North Bergen, New Jersey.
Juan Pablo Torres Morell was a Cuban trombonist, bandleader, arranger and producer. He was the director of Algo Nuevo and a member of Irakere, two of the leading exponents of songo and Afro-Cuban jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. He has also directed various Cuban supergroups such as Estrellas de Areito and Cuban Masters. He has been called "one of the best trombone players in the Latin-jazz community of the 1990s".
